Episode 8: Talking to Trade
How Chpter Uses AI to Help Businesses Sell Socially
As Abraham Augustine explains it, “Trading is fundamentally the process of communicating over common protocols with the goal of consummating an economically tangible transaction. Those transactions start with talking, being understood and responding, which is in some way a transaction.”
Mark Kiarie, Co-founder and CEO of Chpter, started our conversation with a complementary insight—there’s nothing new about talking and trading. But in the era of AI, it’s useful to recall that our tendency to “talk to trade” preceded enabling technology. More on that (and a little bit more) below…
🗣️ 1. Conversational commerce isn’t new, but it’s deeply human.
Buying has always been a conversational act, especially in high-context cultures like those in Africa (and many others in the Global Majority). What’s changed is the medium of transaction.
“Human beings are just used to having conversations whenever they want to have a certain transaction. So, when it comes to conversational commerce today, you find that social media has really taken over the lives of many consumers now.”
🧩 2. Infrastructure is the new moat.
Chpter offers a full stack of integrations to Meta, WhatsApp, and Instagram, etc.—all bundled into one seamless interface. In a market full of fragmented offerings, Chpter’s “one stop shop” becomes a moat.
“The fact that Chapter is able to aggregate all these channels into one and deliver a singular value proposition to the business makes it a really, really, really big moat. And it's something that's insanely difficult to replicate.”
📱 3. Commerce 3.0 is here—and it’s social.
If eBay was e-commerce 1.0, and Shopify represents the second generation, the current wave of commerce rooted in social media platforms is definitely 3.0. And Chpter is built to serve people who start their buying journey as part of a conversation.
“I'd say Commerce 3.0 is largely powered by social media, right? So, people are spending a lot more time on WhatsApp, on Instagram, on Twitter, on TikTok. If this continues to be true, then all these consumers will continue going to these platforms to shop and also interact with the brands that they love.
That’s all from me. See you next week!